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SUNBEAM AND ZEPHYR 


A FAIRY TALE 



“JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT MARRIED SUNBEAM AND ZEPHYR” 








SUNBEAM AND ZEPHYR 

A FAIRY TALE 


BY 

J. RANDOLPH BROWN 

WITH PICTURES BY THE AUTHOR 




BOSTON 

THE FOUR SEAS COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright, 1923, by 

The Four Seas Company 



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The Four Seas Press 
Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 


JAN 14 *24 

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SUNBEAM AND ZEPHYR 

CHAPTER I. 

' I A HEY named him Zephyr because he was like the 
wind that rustles the leaves, bends over the lily 
bells, and makes the tall pines sing. Zephyr was a 
prince among the fairies. He was strong and big 
for a fairy—nearly two inches tall. Although he 
was young, he had done great deeds. Once with his 
sharp sword he had slain a grasshopper. At another 
time he had driven a whole kingdom of ants from 
an anthill. And Zephyr was so clever that all the 
fairies would sit still and listen when he began to 
talk. Oh, the funny stories he could tell; even the 
grave old men, like the prime minister, would hold 
their sides and laugh! 

Zephyr loved Sunbeam because she had pink cheeks 
like the sweet arbutus, eyes blue as the sky, and hair 
as yellow as the golden sunshine. She was so small 
that she could lie down in the petal of a rose, and 
often went to sleep curled up for the night in a honey¬ 
suckle blossom. All the fairies loved her, too, because 
she was so kind and good. She was their queen and 
they obeyed her. 

These fairies lived in the woods and seldom went 
outside, so Sunbeam, although a queen, had never 
been beyond the long shadows where the sun goes 
down at night. 


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6 


SUNBEAM AND ZEPHYR 


Before twilight, all the fairies went to bed. They 
liked best to sleep in the morning glories, for they 
made such nice beds and they shut up so tightly— 
at just the right time for little fairies to go to sleep. 
Then the morning glories would open when the sun 
came up, and would tumble the sleepy little fairies 
out on the grass, and just laugh to see the little 
sleepy-heads rub the dew out of their eyes and try 
to be wide awake. 

Once, ever so long before, Sunbeam had had a 
dreadful experience. Her two uncles, Sunflower and 
Hollyhock, had warned her that she must go to bed 
early, but one day she thought that, since she was 
queen, she wouldn't let even her prime ministers tell 
her what to do, so she stayed up very late. It was 
almost half-past six! 

Hollyhock and Sunflower were very much worried 
and kept saying, “Please run and get inside that wild 
rose and go to sleep, Sunbeam." 

But Sunbeam wouldn’t, because she was a very 
wilful little fairy. 

Then Trixie, Sunbeam’s dearest little friend and 
one of her ladies-in-waiting, said, “Oh, how funny 
you look, Sunbeam." 

Sunbeam said, “I don’t look funny at all." 

Just the same she ran to the fountain, for the 
fountain was her favorite mirror, and looked into it. 
And such a sight! Instead of a rosy-cheeked, chubby 
little fairy, all she could see was a pale, thin little 
fairy, so pale and so thin that she wouldn’t have 
known herself, if it hadn’t been for the dent in her 
chin where a dimple had always been! Oh, but 
Sunbeam was frightened! 


SUNBEAM AND ZEPHYR 


7 


“Run quick, Sunbeam!” said Hollyhock, “you’re 
growing thinner every minute.” 

Sunbeam looked and she could see that she was 
growing thinner, so she ran and ran as fast as ever 
she could, and jumped right into the wild rose, and 
hid her dear little eyes in the soft pink petal, and 
fell fast asleep. 

When she woke she ran and looked in the fountain 
again the very first thing, and you can be sure she 
was glad to find that she looked like herself once 
more. But after that Sunbeam never tried to stay up 
late. 


CHAPTER II. 


'TEPHYR loved Sunbeam and wanted to marry 
her, but she longed to see the world and told him 
he must wait until she had made a trip around it. , 

Zephyr coaxed and begged her to stay at home, 
but nothing he could say would change her mind, for 
she was determined to take the journey; so she called 
the servants and ordered them to harness two of her 
largest, handsomest and swiftest humble-bees to her 
roseleaf carriage. Then, dressed in a lovely yellow 
gown made of butterflies’ feathers, she stepped into 
her carriage, waved her hand, and with a loud buzzing 
noise away flew her black and yellow team. 

The fairies watched her, straining their eyes, till 
she disappeared over the treetops; and then they all 
cried and felt so badly that they nearly wept their 
eyes out. 

“Oh, what will become of our beautiful Sunbeam?” 
they cried. “Will she ever come back to us?” 

“I will go after her,” said Zephyr. “Bring me my 
swift hornet.” So he mounted his black steed, and 
with a fierce buzzing the hornet darted off. 

He soon overtook Sunbeam, for his hornet could 
fly much faster than her bumble-bees, and he was 
almost up to her roseleaf carriage, when she drove 
her tired humble-bees into a lovely red clover field. 

She had never seen red clover before, as they do 
not grow in the forest, and the sight was a great 
8 



“WITH A FIERCE BUZZING THE HORNET DARTED OFF' 















SUNBEAM AND ZEPHYR 


11 


treat to her as well as to the tired and hungry bumble¬ 
bees. 

She unfastened them from the carriage to let them 
eat all the honey they wanted, and they just ate and 
ate until they tumbled off the clover blossoms to the 
ground, they were so full. 

“Now, what shall I do?” cried Sunbeam. “I can’t 
get my bumble-bees to go,” and she tugged at them 
and coaxed and scolded, but it was no use. They 
were fast asleep. 

Poor Sunbeam sat down on a clover leaf and felt 
so tired and sorry that she cried until she, too, fell 
asleep. 


CHAPTER III. 


V\/CHEN Zephyr alighted from his black hornet, he 
” found Sunbeam asleep on the clover leaf and, 
not having the heart to awaken her, he bent over her 
and kissed her cheek and then went round to the 
opposite side of the clover blossom where he would 
be entirely hidden when she opened her eyes. 

Just then a dew-drop that hung directly over 
Sunbeam’s head was shaken and it fell right on her 
face and so nearly drowned her that she awoke with 
a start to find herself alone. 

Zephyr kept as quiet as he could for some time, 
but his poor little Sunbeam was crying so hard that 
he finally came out of his hiding-place and said: 

“My dear Sunbeam, I am here to take you home.” 

At first she was so glad to see him that she almost 
fell off the clover leaf, right on the bumble-bees, but 
Zephyr caught her in his arms. 

“Please, can’t you wake up my bumble-bees?” she 
sobbed. 

“I will try,” said Zephyr, “but you do not need 
them; for you can ride behind me on the hornet.” 

“No, no, I must go on my journey,” she said, and 
seeing her determined to have her own way, he tried 
to wake the drowsy bumble-bees. He shook them 
and pounded them with a long grass, and grew all 
out of breath shouting at them, but they would not 
open their eyes. He sat down to rest himself, and 
12 


SUNBEAM AND ZEPHYR 


13 


as he was wondering what he could do next, he too 
fell asleep. J 

By and by the bees awoke of their own accord, so 
Sunbeam harnessed them and started off again, for 
she knew that Zephyr would ride his favorite hornet 
after her before she could get far away. Soon she 
saw a beautiful white field and guided her bumble¬ 
bees into it. 

This field was also all clover, only it was white 
clover. It stretched away off ever so far, till Sunbeam 
could not see the end of it. The air was sweet with 
perfume so that she entirely forgot the unhappy time 
in the red clover. 

Suddenly the bees started so swiftly that she 
became frightened, and in spite of all her efforts to 
stop them, they flew faster and faster until she could 
see nothing but a dim white mass all around her. 
Then with a thump they struck a hard board fence, 
and fell to the ground; and poor little Sunbeam was 
thrown from her rose-leaf carriage and nearly 
stunned by the fall. 

When she could open her eyes, she saw that the 
poor bumble-bees were dead and then she knew that 
her journey was at an end and that perhaps she could 
never get home again. 


CHAPTER IV. 


\X7HILE Sunbeam was sitting among the white 
” clover, sobbing as though her heart would 
break, she heard a strange noise. It was different 
from any noise she had ever heard before. It grew 
louder and louder, and poor little Sunbeam became 
very much frightened. Just as fast as she could she 
climbed up the slippery stem of a white clover, and 
tip-toed across the top of the blossom, and looked. 
And what do you think she saw—something big and 
white coming towards her! Sometimes it would 
come straight towards her and then it would fall 
down and all the clover would be crumbled. 

Then Sunbeam heard a big voice say, “Come, baby 
dear!” 

“Baby,” thought Sunbeam, “that is not a baby. 
That is a giant more than a hundred, hundred times 
as big as a fairy.” 

Sunbeam was so frightened that she climbed down 
from the clover blossom and ran as fast as she could. 
Then she fell down and tore her pretty yellow dress 
on a blade of grass. That made her cry again, for 
it was her prettiest dress, all made of butterflies , 
wings. 

Poor Sunbeam thought, “Oh, if Zephyr would only 
come,” and she began to call, “Zephyr, Zephyr!” 

Luckily, Zephyr was not very far away and when 
he heard her call it was not very long before he dis¬ 
covered her and placed her behind him on the hornet. 

Together they flew swiftly over the fields and rivers 
till they reached their own woods. The fairies were 
so happy over Sunbeam’s return that they sang and 
danced and began to prepare a great banquet on the 
largest oak leaf they could find. 

14 


CHAPTER V. 


THIRST, however, they all formed into line and with 
twelve lovely little fairy maidens leading the way 
went to Jack-in-the-Pulpit, who married Zephyr and 
Sunbeam. Sunbeam had on a sweet little dress made 
of daisy petals and Zephyr had the cunningest black 
velvet suit made from a bumble-bee’s coat. After 
the wedding they marched back to where the dinner 
was spread on the oak leaf. 

After dinner the fairies called so loudly for a speech 
from Zephyr that at last he climbed up on a chestnut 
and began to speak. What he said was very funny, 
and a red squirrel came out from a tree over head 
to see why the fairies were laughing so hard and so 
merrily. 

The little red squirrel was very glad to have a 
chance to see the fairies, for usually when they heard 
him coming, they always hid. But now Zephyr’s 
speech was so funny that they didn’t hear the red 
squirrel at all. 

The red squirrel thought, “Oh, I wish the fairies 
would invite me to their party.” He saw one little 
fairy next to Sunbeam who had lovely velvety eyes, 
and he thought she was the dearest little thing he 
had ever seen. It was Trixie, Sunbeam’s dearest 
friend, the naughtiest, most mischievous little fairy 
in the world. Sunbeam adored Trixie, because Trixie 
could think of so many funny things to do. When 
15 


16 


SUNBEAM AND ZEPHYR 


the red squirrel saw Trixie, he thought he simply 
must go to the party. 

He began to laugh and chatter, too, and ran out 
on a limb directly over their heads, so he could listen 
better to the speech. Here he got to laughing so 
heartily that he lost his balance and fell right off the 
limb, which frightened the fairies so much that they 
ran and hid away under the leaves. The little red 
squirrel can not find them now, and neither can you 
nor I. 





























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